SQUASH

PRODUCTION
Reporters:

Bargayo Robles
Bayogos Desales
Naraga
INTRODUCTION

• Squash, botanically known as Cucurbita maxima L.,

usually grown in home garden and in commercial scale
for its fruits, young shoots, flowers and seeds.
• Nueva Viscaya Strain, San Leonardo, and Suprema are
the three reccommended for commercial production.
COVERAGE
1. Site selection
2. Land preparation
3. Planting material selection
4. Fertilizer application
5. Pests and Disease management
6. Different factors affects during production
7. Maturity indices
8. Postharvest handling management
9. Record Keeping
1. SITE SELECTION
• Soil type
– soil pH - alkaline
– soil structure - porous
– soil texture - sandy loam

– grows in well-drained soil but the best soil type is

sandy loam or clay loam with pH of 6.0 - 6.7
• Field set-up
preferred
– topography (slope)

not preferred:
– hilly mountainous area
– waterlogged areas
2. LAND PREPARATION

• Weeding
– chemical intervention using herbicides through
spraying
– Basagran/2-4-D

• Lay-out
– tillage
• Complete land preparation
• Materials used
–plow and harrow
• pulverized and leveled to obtain optimum
soil moisture (not too wet nor too dry)
• Distance between furrows
–2 meter
3. PLANTING MATERIAL SELECTION
• Crop variety selection
• select a variety suitable in planting area
• pest and crop resistant
• market demand
• Crop establishment
– plant propagation/germination
• direct planting
– distance 2 meter between each holes
– 2-3 seedling per hole
• seedling trays
– transplant after 5 days
• Pollination
– bees and white flies are the primary pollinators of squash,
when pollinators are few, hand pollinate the flower between
6-8 in the morning to increase fruit setting
– to increase yield, rub pollen into the pistil of female flowers
every morning at early flowering to peak flowering
– critical stage during flowering and vegetative stage
• Planting season
– avoid planting during rainy season
– avoid planting during outbreak of rodents and peak
population of insect pest
4. FERTILIZER APPLICATION

• Nutrient management/requirement
– incorporate organic fertilizer (chicken manure) and
inorganic fertilizer (complete fertilizer, potash, urea)
– basal application of chicken manure during planting
– 1st application of synthetic fertilizer after 1 month
– 2nd application during flowering stage
– enough source of water to enable plant to complete
growth and development cycle from germination
• Weed control
– apply hand weeding when the weeds start to
appear to eliminate germinating weeds
– remove the weeds while the plants are still small
– spraying of herbicides 1 week after planting
– cover the plants using sack (sako) to avoid plants
from wilting/withered
5. PESTS AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT

• Common insect pests

• Squash beetle - yellowish beetles damage the squash by
scrapping the surface of the leaves producing a skeletonized
appearance.
• Aphids (Aphids gossypii) - leaves the under surface of
squash leaves. Secrets substances that is toxic to the plant
causing leaf curling and dwarfing of shoots
• Leaf hoppers (Impoasca sp.) - suck the leaves causing
hopper burn, drying of leaves uring severe infestation also
causes in reduced yield
• White fly (Bemicia tabaci) - small white and dainty flieslive
under surface of the leaves. Transmits viral diseases to squash
and other crops causing abnormal growth of leaves and shoots.
• Rodents -
• Snails (taklong)
• Mosaic virus - cause mosiac or yellow green pattern of the
leaves with sight curling. transferred by insect vector or through
the seeds
• Leaf curl virus - seed-borne disease, characterized by curling
of the leaves and shoots with shortened internodeswith dwarf
appearance. The plant can survive and produce numerous
leaflets but not capable of producing normal shoots and fruits.
Biological and remedial control of pests and diseases

A. Insect pests
– Squash beetle
• sweeping it using insect net
– Aphids
• crush the colonies then spray infected plants with basil leaf
extract
– Whitefly
• overhead irrigation twice a week
– Leafhoppers
• overhead irrigation twice a week
B. Common diseases
– Mosaic virus/ Leaf curl virus
• if symptoms appear on the plant at early stage,
uproot the plants then burn. If plants are infected
during fruiting stage, irrigate the plant at weekly
interval up to harvesting as it can tolerate the virus.
Uproot and burn infected plants after harvesting.
6. FACTORS AFFECTING DURING PRODUCTION

• Abiotic factor
– environmental factor
– transpiration and pollinations is affected
• rainfall
• sunlight
• wind movement
• weather
• Biotic factor
• this are the factors that will affect the growth
and yield of crops
• pollinators such as bees, fruit flies and hand
pollination
Human factor

• Financial
• Labor
• Equipments
 7. MATURITY INDICES IN HARVESTING
• Age
– harvest immature fruits at 30-40 days from anthesis or pollination
• Change in color
– harvest the matured fruit when the fruits appear brownish orange,
appearance of powdery, whitish substance on the surface of the
fruit
– harvest the fruits with a portion of the peduncle attached to prolong
storage life
• Size and weight
– larger fruit generally more mature than smaller one
8. POSTHARVEST HANDLING MANAGEMENT

• During harvesting proper handling is a must

because its a perishable crop
• Avoid bruises to the fruits because that will cause
the fruit to withered
• Bottle of softdrinks use as a tool in harvesting
• Avoid storing for longer time because it will rot
9. RECORD KEEPING